The invention relates generally to golf equipment. More particularly, the invention relates to spring action golf bag stands.
Golf bag stands have been in existence for many years. However, no one stand mechanism has yet been designed to overcome the many limitations seen in the prior art. Many of the stands used in the past employ heavy weight mechanisms. Carrying heavy equipment, fatigues the golfer during play and tends to reduce the overall enjoyment of the golfing experience. The bulky stand hardware of other mechanisms poke the golfer or caddy while the bag is being carried. Other less bulky, prior art stand mechanisms while eliminating the poking and prodding during carrying of the bag are fragile, thus making these stands vulnerable to damage when attached to the back of a golf cart or when stowed in the trunk of a car, for example. For mounting the movable parts of some prior mechanisms the body fabric of the golf bags have to be pierced to attach the legs. Still other stand mechanisms require manual activation to engage and/or disengage the legs of the stand. Another common problem with prior art stands is the feet and stand actuation mechanism tend to sink in soft soil or mud.
In light of the foregoing it is desirable to provide an improved, automatic, light weight, spring action golf stand. Particularly, it is desirable that the stand mechanism have a compact design that keeps the stand integrated with the golf bag body and out of the way while the mechanism is retracted. Further, it is advantageous to provide a narrow profile width so the legs and other stand hardware do not hit the golfer or caddy while the bag is being carried. These and other advantages and features are provided by the improved stand system described herein.
A new ultra light weight, spring action, stand system for supporting a golf bag is described. According to one aspect of the present invention, the stand system includes a top bracket, a pair of legs, a guide, a wire form, and a footplate. The top bracket is configured for coupling to a top portion of a golf bag. The pair of legs may be pivotably coupled to the top bracket. The guide is for coupling to a bottom portion of the golf bag to restrain lateral movement of the wire form, for example. The wire form is slidably coupled through the guide and engages the legs. The actuation of the wire form moves the legs from a retracted position to an extended position. Finally, the footplate is pivotably mounted to the wire form and is positioned to have a contact point with the ground for actuating the wire form that is behind the plane of the legs. Advantageously, in this manner, the footplate is not exposed and is thus protected from being caught on external objects.
According to another aspect of the present invention, the stand system includes a double clip with tensioning at the top and separating at the bottom and the wire form includes crimps to hold the double clip in place at a very high tension. Thus, more spring back in the legs is provided.
According to yet another aspect of the present invention, the stand system includes a bi-planar cut away base that facilitates engagement of the wire form.
Other advantages and features of the present invention will be apparent from the accompanying drawings and from the detailed description which follows.